Last week we met Modbury resident Tony Goddard and learned about his time as a District Officer in the Colonial Service serving in North Rhodesia (now Zambia).

Now we find Tony transferring to the Ministry of Justice and on the strength of his Oxford Law degree being appointed as Resident Magistrate of Balovale and Kabompo Districts on the banks of the Zambezi with the criminal and civil powers of an English county Court Judge.

This appointment saw the end of his career in the Colonial service and the urgent need to plan for a future career in England.

With a young wife to support, Tony decided to give up his intention to become a barrister in favour of the safer option of becoming a solicitor.

This required him to undergo a two-year apprenticeship known as Articles with a firm of solicitors in the Thames Valley followed by six months as a student at the College of Law in Guildford.

The College housed in a beautiful Manor House and presided over by a distinguished scholar disguised the real purpose of the College which was to "cram" the students with the information necessary to pass the examination at the end of the six-month period which it did extremelv efficientlv.

Tony was admitted as a Solicitor of the High Court on the January 13 1969 just in time for him to appear in the Magistrates Court for the first time the very next day!

After a vear as an assistant with the same firm in the Thames Valley Tony applied for a position with a small two partner firm in the South Hams initially as an assistant to take over and develop the litigation side of the practice which was virtually non-existent.

In his new book, Tony describes a tight knit rural community into which it was well nigh impossible for someone new to the areas to penetrate.

Until that is he bought on instinct a very beautiful but totally unsuitable thorough bred horse which proved to be the key to being accepted into the community which largely revolved around hunting.

Tony agreed to join the organising committee of the local farmers hunt "the Kennel Committee" only to find himself "bounced "into becoming Vice Chairman of the Hunt which took him into the very heart of the local hunting and agricultural community,

Tony spent some 10 years very happily as vice chairman to James "Jimmy" Darke grandfather of Richard the present chairman of what became the Dartvale, South Pool and Modbury Harriers.

This gave him a close insight into the operation of the close knit agricultural community that as his book "Tales of a Country Solicitor" amusingly records.

Sadly increased government regulation and the growth of the big city practices have sounded the death knell for these agricultural communities and the local solicitors practices who served them.

To find out how to buy either of Tony’s books, My African Stories and Tales of a Country Solicitor you can e-mail: [email protected]